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a painter´s attempt to conquer the great white canvas

Squirrel Appreciation Day

Today is the International Squirrel Appreciation Day, and how better to celebrate it than by sharing with you some of my favorite photos I´ve shot over the years in a near-by park.

Here´s a way to show your appreciation for these lovely animals: go for a walk in your nearest park, forest… and deposit some lovely nuts around a tree. Our European ones prefer walnuts, hazelnuts and peanuts.

But as you can see in my first shot, they also like to eat some fruit in summer as well…

“An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!”

And if you´re not handing out the nuts quickly enough, they simply come and get them themselves!

Self-service

Because of their lovely red fur, they´re very easy to spot in winter…

Little Red Riding Hood 😉

And like us, not all of them are cheery when it´s cold and when those silly humans try to get nearer and nearer with their big black eyes, snapping away at them…

“F*** off! That´s my nut!”

You´re thinking of yourself as an athlete of some kind? Well, think again! Anyone fancy trying this particular yoga pose?

Squirrel yoga

And who says we only look pretty in red?

b/w squirrel

Aren´t these tufts just perfect and gorgeous?

Little Miss Sunshine

It´s beyond words when a wild animal decides to trust you…

squirrel feeding from my hand

And this is how they look when the nuts are all gone…

“Don´t go – give me more nuts! Please!”

And this is what I´m doing when there´s no squirrel around – I simply draw or paint one, like I did with this self-made shopping bag this winter.

For this I used some textile paint that gets washable after ironing. Make sure to use fabrics which have at least 70% cotton in them, this way the paint will stay better and last longer. I used some orange colored linen, and applied it on a grey, very light but durable synthetic material.

I happen to adore squirrels also. They are creative, athletic, have a great sense of humor, and know how to contend with all kinds of weather. In New England, most squirrels are gray. I’ve never seen one with such red fur, nor with those adorable ears! Fabulous photos. I enjoy watching squirrels run and jump and then sit as still as a yogi. They make me laugh when they chatter about me and my guy as we watch them. Thanks for the smiles with your photos and your clever bag!

Thanks so much, Pam! And I so agree with your wonderful description of squirrels! It’s so much fun watching the squirrels fall into a kind of food coma when feasting on peanuts – they’re suddelny all sleepy, still holding the peanut they were just nibbling on and take a little time out, knowing that they can do so in the open in my presence because no bird of prey would dare come near them then.
Glad to have made you smile! Have a glorious day and happy squirrel watching! 😄❤

My guy has a little squirrel/human staring down contest going on. He doesn’t like it when the squirrels hang upside down on our bird feeder and feast. The squirrels think it’s hysterical when he yells at them. For Christmas I bought my guy a t-shirt that has a squirrel on it with big eyes saying, “Excuse me, but your bird feeder is empty – please fill!” 🙂

I too am nuts about squirrels — and puns as well, as you can tell 🙂 — and see them daily, as we have a walnut tree in our yard which provides a seemingly ample food supply year round. I don’t even mind them ‘tearing up’ the lawn when they bury the nuts in the fall and dig them up in the winter (though I’ve often wondered if they really remember the exact spot or go by the ‘hit or miss’ system).

Haha! 😀 Thank you very much for your wonderful comment, Mister Muse! Walnut trees are a real heaven for squirrels, aren’t they? So lovely to know that you don´t mind them tearing up the lawn in their efforts to hide the nuts, I wouldn’t mind either. And I think it´s “hit or miss” with them 😉
Have a lovely day! Sarah

What a wonderful series of Squirrel photos!!!! My favourite is Little Miss Sunshine – her ears are just fabulous!

We’ve actually been having an unwanted visitor in our home, riffling through our dried fruit & nut basket (we keep our snack stash in a basket). We managed to spot him just yesterday as he rushed out of the apartment – bushy tailed critter! Guess we have to keep the doors all shut now!

Thanks so much, Ju-Lyn! Little Miss Sunshine is also one of my favorites – she was so cute and very, very careful when she took the nuts from my hand.
Oh oh! You really need to keep the doors shut now for a while, squirrels are quite wrongly famed for having a bad memory – they might forget the exact spot where they buried a nut, but they never forget a place that proofed to hold lots of yummy things 😉 Maybe try to distract it from your home by putting some nuts and berries outside.

Thank you so much, Christy! I think all squirrels are lovely so don’t feel bad about having only brown or grey ones. I’ve recently heard that there are flying squirrels in Canada too which is so cool! Have a great day and a beautiful week and weekend, my friend! 😄💖

Awe, your pics are lovely. The red squirrels are so cute with their tufts. Unfortunately, the grey squirrels have replaced the red ones in Quebec. We do have some with black fur. Also some flying squirrels. Despite popular beliefs, the flying squirrels cannot “fly” per se: they glide! If you see some in nature, consider yourself lucky! Nocturnal and very fast, they are especially difficult to see in the wild. Love your bag. Great choice of color.

Thanks so much, Dominique! I would love to see those black squirrels! Some of our squirrels have a darker, more black like colored fur too, and I have been told these are ones that emigrated from Russia. Don´t know if that´s true though 😉
I´ve watched a couple of documentaries about flying squirrels – they are amazing!
The colors of my bag are actually a bright pumpkin orange and grey but the camera resisted any attempt to make it appear like this, and so it looks more red and grey. 🙂

Those flying squirrels are amazing indeed. And the black ones are rare too. I am sure your shopping bag is also pretty with a bright orange background. Have you thought about having your design print on totes? And selling them through Etsy?

Sarah, wow!! 😀😀 You have the most gorgeous, cutest squirrels ever!! These red ones are adorable and their tufts are just fantastic. In the uk most of the red squirrels were wiped out when the grey ones were introduced and even the red ones that remain are not like these. Exquisite photos and they seemed to enjoy being models for you! As for the bag…I want one!! Just beautiful and original! I bet you got some very positive comments from fellow-shoppers! 😀

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Annika! They only model for me because I always pay them in walnuts which are their favourites 😉 Maybe fashion photographers should start doing the same – LOL! 😄 The human models could do with a few pounds more on their ribs. xxx

Your photos are gorgeous, Sarah, including the black and white! And love your shopping bag, too. I must confess though that because of my chocolate lab’s obsession with these creatures, they (at times) become the bane of my existence. 🙂 Copper becomes 75 lbs of excitement and jumpy and whiny. 🙂 He hasn’t caught one yet, and sadly, he still thinks it’s possible. Sending lots of love xoxo

Thank you so much, Lauren!
LOL! I know how it is with dogs and squirrels! 😂 I don’t have one but went often for a walk with my aunt’s and believe me back then they were the bane of my life as well! I was always afraid that she would run off into the woods and never come back. You have to give your lab some credit for his persistence though 😉
Love and hugs! xoxo 💕🐕🐶

Lovely, lovely post Sarah. For all the time I lived in the UK I hardly ever saw a squirrel (and the few I did see were grey 😦 ) so it is wonderful to see your beautiful photos; you’ve captured a real sense of their movement, and such cute faces. Your shopping bag is stunning. I love the black silhouette on red 🙂

Thank you so much, Su! Yes, the red squirrels have become pretty much extinct in the UK, my aunt saw her last one in the early 90’s I think.
The colour of the fabric is actually a bright pumpkin orange but for some reason my camera resisted to show it properly 😂 I tried editing afterwards but it didn’t work either. Do you maybe know what I did wrong when I took this shot?

I use the Apple photo editing software, Snapseed and Lightroom – with varying success 😉 Maybe I should do a editing class at my local evening school but I’m just too lazy for that. Also I’m more the just-hit-the-buttons-and-see-if-it-works kind of girl. 😂 xxx

It’s so much fun hitting the buttons 🙂 that’s my approach to technology too. I use Snapseed too, and I tried messing with the curve tool to get orange instead of red, but didn’t achieve anything useful. Perhaps YouTube or Google will be our friend here. 🙂 xxxxx

Thanks so much, Iris! I find them to be such fascinating animals that I could spent hours there if I had the time! It´s always a wonderful experience. 🙂 Have a wonderful week, my friend! Much love! 🙂 💕🌹🐿

This is a great squirrel celebration day (is this real?)! When it comes to foods, squirrels are so cleaver about getting to the foods. The most impressive one from these is the one that came and eat right out of your hand –

Thank you! Yes, it is a real day! 😀 There´s almost a day for anything, just google “days of the year” and you will be in for a surprise. 😉
And you´re so right about them being clever when it comes to food 😉

Hope you had a lovely squirrel day yesterday! 🙂 And thank you very much for your comment and visit!
The red ones are very common here in Germany, but there´s a problem with grey ones replacing them in other parts of Europe like the UK. The grey ones are much bigger and tend to get all the food so the number of red ones falters drastically, in some places they are even extinct. 😦

Thank you, Kerry! And I´m glad to hear that there are still some red ones in Scotland! I was under the impression the whole UK was under the grey squirrel rule 😉
I haven´t heard of fox squirrels before and am going to have a look on google later on to check them out, thanks for that! xxx

They discovered that red squirrels live in specific forests that don’t appeal to the grays. There was a strong colony close to where we lived in the North East of Scotland. Fox squirrels live in forests in Texas and eastern USA.

Then I will keep my fingers crossed that the greys won’t develope an appetite for my woods here. 😉 Not that they don’t have a right to live but I would be so sad seeing the red ones disappeare. Had a look at the Fox squirrels – wow! They’re huge! But have a very sweet face. 😊

Sarah, I do love your photos of the Squirrels. You have managed to get so close to them, that is good going. I have a number of Squirrels in the garden but they are the Grey…have photos too.:) sadly the grey were more vicious survivors than the red.
Back in Sweden we still have the red.
Both are so cute though and fun. And how they can fly from tree to tree.
miriam

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Miriam! I feel really fortunate to be able to get that close to them, as my camera isn´t a really good one and their would be many details lost if I had to rely on zoom only.
I´ve heard that the grey ones are more aggressive, and I doubt I would do all this with them – LOL! 😀 But I would watch them from a safe distance for sure!
Ah, yes, that flying from tree to tree is something I admire too! 🙂

I’ve never seen red squirrels – they are gorgeous animal and your photos capture their inquisitive nature and enormous appetites. True of squirrels here in the US, no matter what color their coat. Wee used to see pure black ones in Detroit, Michigan, and there are lots of gray and brown ones everywhere. Just this past year, we’ve had a gray squirrel visit the staghorn ferns on our back deck. She’s probably after the banana peels I throw into the fronds (supposed to be nutritious for the ferns.) I’m not much of a photographer and this visitor is so quick on her toes, I’d probably not be able to get a picture of her anyway.

This is a delightful photo essay, Sarah, and I like the way you commemorated your friend on the bag – super creative.

Thank you so much for your wonderful comment, Sharon! You´re so right about their enormous appetites – I swear, I don´t know where they put the nuts, must be all that running around why they never seem to gain any weight. 😉 I´ve only ever seen a gray squirrel once in England, they are huge compared to the red ones! I´m not sure if I would dare feed them by hand! 😀
And I have to add, that most of the time I don´t even care to take pictures to be honest, I simply enjoy their company and savour the moment. 🙂

Great shots of a squirrel I have never seen. Love the tall fuzzy ears on them and their color. I’ve seen a lot of squirrels and fed them not knowing how destructive they can be. I had one that would slide open a screen door to get to his peanuts and follow me up and down the driveway until I gave him some. Then I had some eat the entire glider set carrying the fiberfill all over the neighborhood. I could never be fast enough to catch the kind of photos you have taken here. They are wonderful.

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Marlene. Oh, yes, squirrels can be very destructive. I´ve heard from someone that they used to feed them on their balcony, and one day they´d decided not to wait anymore but went inside to get the nuts! The living room was a mess after that!! Which is why I would never do this at home but only in a park 😉 But even there they can get pretty devoted – one time a squirrel climbed up my leg because I had dared to take my time 😉 I was lucky to wear a pair of jeans that day! 😀

They will do that. I had a friend that fostered baby squirrels until they were big enough to go on their own. They loved crawling inside your pant legs! I love to look at them but have learned several good lessons about them. 🙂 Have a terrific Tuesday.

They are also very curious : Every time, or almost every time, any of my two qigong groups play qigong either in Wassenaar or in Charleville, there are squirrels coming to see. They are also inspiring : They have a sense of balance that I don’t even dream to have ! Many thanks for these exquisite pictures, Miss Gentileschi

Indeed they are! I’m sure they’re having a good time watching you doing qigong (which by the way is awesome, I did it a few years ago). I also admire their fantastic sense of balance and would love to join them running around in the trees!
Thank you very much for your lovely comment, Gilles and I’m glad you enjoyed this post. 😊

Thank you very much! I know I’m lucky to have gained their friendship , they are a pure joy to be with! 😊
And it’s so sad that the grey squirrels have replaced the red ones in England. My aunt who lives in the south misses them dearly.

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